3ds Max – Master Class Series

1. 3ds max Master Class Series 1 – Character Rigging and Animation
Discreet, a division of Autodesk Inc., is offering attendees of the 2004 SIGGRAPH Conference the opportunity to evolve their skills and expand their knowledge on Discreet’s 3ds max® animation software, combustion® visual…SIGGRAPH 2004 – Discreet to hold Master Classes for 3ds max, combustion and character studio software
Discreet, a division of Autodesk Inc., is offering attendees of the 2004 SIGGRAPH Conference the opportunity to evolve their skills and expand their knowledge on Discreet’s 3ds max® animation software, combustion® visual effects software, and character studio® software through a series of exclusive master classes. Sponsored by ATI, Discreet will hold 12 different classes hosted by Discreet’s training specialists and by computer graphics & visual effects industry experts including Chris Harvey of Frantic Films, Matthew Merkovich of Digital Dimension and RT Taylor formerly of Rhythm & Hues.

2. 3ds max Master Class Series 2 – Advanced Character Rigging
Rigging a character is an important and challenging part of the video game and VFX workflow. Sergio Mucino, accomplished video effects and games artist discusses how to use “layered rigging” to create both simple and advanced character rigs. The rig is the “user interface” to your character – it must be clear and precise to allow as much control as possible when animating your character.
The session begins by demonstrating technical character rigging workflow and introduces skeletal design for advanced skinning deformations. It continues with topics such as advanced controllers, wires, expressions, scripts and embedded procedural animation. It finishes with skinning and morphing of facial expressions, the use of proxy geometry, and muscle-based deformation system

3. 3ds max Master Class Series 3 – Vehicle Rigging
Presented by Chris Harvey, of Frantic Films, this session focuses on creating a rig for a vehicle, illustrating the flexibility of 3ds max for all types of rigging.
A variety of types of vehicle rigs for games and film are shown:
* Treaded
* 4 Wheeled
* 3 Wheeled
* Multi Wheeled
* Planes
Vehicle specific topics such as suspension, automatic wheel rotation, steering, automatic interaction of mechanical parts, automatic/hand-adjustable secondary motion, are covered, to name a few. The vehicle rigs include uses of scripted controllers, expressions, custom attributes, scripted plug-ins, modeling for rigging, the use of intelligent control objects, and wiring. To cap it off, the session would not be complete without demonstrating the ease and speed with which the vehicles can be animated.

4. 3ds max Master Class Series 4 – Secrets of Lofting
In this session, Ted Boardman unlocks the secrets of lofting that allow designers and artists to take advantage of one of the most powerful modeling tools in 3ds max. If you could use more flexibility in modeling and need to make frequent changes during the design process, this class is for you.
You’ll learn about:
* Methods to orient shapes on a path correctly, to control the direction of the lofted model, and to apply multiple shapes on a path, avoiding twisting or distortion.
* Powerful lofting editing features that allow you more flexibility for higher productivity and important control of the density of the resulting meshes for a balance of detail and efficiency not easily achieved with other modeling methods
* Special attributes of material application and mapping uniquely inherent to lofted objects that allow patterns to bend and twist automatically with changes to the model.
* Techniques to control application of materials at the 2D shape level for greater flexibility and to size pattern accurately on the lofted objects.

5. 3ds max Master Class Series 5 – Materials: All Dressed Up
Led by Ted Boardman, this session is designed for users who have mastered the fundamentals of 3ds max materials and maps but need to coax more from the Material Editor to create convincing images and animations. Whether you’re an artist or designer, you will learn methods that will increase your productivity and the richness of your images.
Discover techniques of enhancing important specular highlights, which define hardness and surface condition– your viewer’s first critical indication of the type of material. Specular highlights are key elements of a wider tonal range.
Learn methods for using compositing in both 3ds max materials and maps to extend the range of tools available in your working palette. This enables you to build layers of surface information; each hidden or revealed by transparency of the other layers.
Extend the concepts of layering to new levels by using masking techniques in materials and maps. YouÕll learn how to use variations of the Falloff map type and Vertex Painting in 3ds max to achieve these effects.

7. 3ds max Master Class Series 7 – Film Effects
This session focuses on at least three visual effects shots which use afterburn and pflow. Presented by Allan McKay, this lesson leads you through creating visual effects shots as you would in production, starting with an animated scene and then applying the effects.
Examples include having a tornado procedurally tear apart a house, trees and other surroundings as well as pull lots of dirt, rocks and other debris into its base funnel. Another illustrates planes firing at each other showing basic level flocking behaviors while displaying ways to make two pflow sources communicate with one another. Lastly, we’ll examine other “Hollywood” effects such as earthquakes.
This seminar is considered advanced and focuses primarily on finished and polished shots. Some scripting is used.

8. 3ds max Master Class Series 8 – Reactor Creating Dynamic Simulations
This session, led by Mike McCarthy, focuses on using Reactor to create dynamic simulations. There are some things that just can’t or shouldn’t be key-framed– with the power of Reactor you don’t have to! By giving objects real world properties like mass, elasticity, and friction you can set up a simulation and have Reactor build the animation for you.

9. 3DS Max Master Class Series 9 – Compositing Process In Mind
In this session,Gary Davis, a Certified Discreet trainer,Challenges the view that many 3D animators have that 3D renders are a finished piece . Instead, 3D render can be
seen only as a starting point in a chain of applications such as compositing and editing environments.
The session begins with an extremely cursory overview of Alpha Channels. Next the concept of Render Passes is
introduced, including the separation of foreground,mid ground and background. Render elements are discussed
in detail along with the process of using Z-Depth render passes. Finally the session ends with the use of RPF
sequences,and the powerful union that can be accomplished with 3ds max combustion.

11. 3ds max Master Class Series 11 – Productivity and Mapping in Visualization
Good materials, along with lighting, are important elements in creating convincing visualizations for your clients. In this DVD, you will learn tips and tricks using parametric maps that ship with Autodesk 3ds Max and Autodesk VIZ, which will allow you to make flexible materials that can quickly be changed for increased productivity. You will learn to control some of the settings in the map types that enable effects otherwise difficult to achieve
This DVD is for architectural and background visualization artists
interested in increasing their productivity.
Topics include:
Creating a brick or tile map
Creating pattern variations
Creating and customizing a wood floor
Tricks for rendering out the floor
Using falloff maps
Using specular highlights
Creating light and snow effects
Creating a building with windows
Fitting text explicitly to an object
PC DVD ROM
Presentation run time: 1 hour 56 minutes
Autodesk 3ds Max scene files included

13. 3ds max MasterClass Series 13 – Steering Clear of Photo Real
When a client asks for photo-real but time or other constraints do not permit it, going in a completely different direction often proves beneficial. Cartoon looks as well as hard-edge mechanical looks can easily be achieved using Autodesk® 3ds Max® and Autodesk® Combustion® software as well as third-party solutions for both applications.
This DVD is for anyone wanting to output stylized animations that stay clear of photorealistic.
Topics include:
Modelling, lighting and shader considerations
Ambient occlusion
Dome lighting
Using final render
Cartoon shaders
Using falloff maps
Shading with a Bitmap image
PC DVD ROM
Presentation run time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Autodesk 3ds Max scene files included